The Philadelphia Phillies saw their magical post-season run end last night in Houston. They lost three straight games in the Series after taking a 2-1 lead. Astros pitchers were too good and they held the Phils to a mere three runs in the final 27 frames. The Astros were too good overall. That's a very deep club. Their hitters wore down both of the Phils top starters--Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler--and both of their top relievers--Jose Alvarado and Seranthony Dominguez. I liked the Phillies and was hoping for an upset but I'm not surprised that the Astros won. They were just too strong and had an answer for everything.
That's four World Series appearances in six seasons for Houston with two wins. Five players on this championship squad played on the 2017 team: Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Yuli Gurriel, Justin Verlander, and Lance McCullers, Jr.
Now we can talk about the Giants!
--M.C.
8 comments:
Here's a list of free agents.
I would like to see the Giants re-sign Carlos Rodón. I think that would be a better use of big bucks than Aaron Judge. Not that I have anything against Judge, who is obviously a superb ballplayer. Just that SP >> OF. Of course the Giants could certainly sign both of them! I would not complain about that.
I have heard the Giants want to go after a top SS like Carlos Correa or Trea Turner. Sounds good to me. In the less glamorous department, the Giants have a lot of arb-decisions to make. People like LaMonte Wade, Yaz, Slater, etc. could face a roster crunch.
There are obvious keepers like Logan Webb and Thairo Estrada (and J.D. Davis?) as well as impending FAs like John Brebbia (Keep!) as well as Jakob Junis (?), Jarlin Garcia (probably let go), and Scott Alexander/Alex young (both intriguing).
Really nice discussion of Rob Thompson's decision to pull Zack Wheeler for Jose Alvarado last night.
It was certainly a career moment for Yordan Alvarez. He hit that ball so far I swear it would have gone 500 feet.
I would keep Jarlin Garcia
It's good to stockpile lefties but he may face a roster crunch.
Garcia has one year of arb left and is a FA in 2024. Cot's projects $2.75M. Meanwhile Alex Young is a FA in 2027. He's projected to get $0.9M and is under team control for 3 more seasons. Scott Alexander is a FA in 2024 and is projected at $1.0M.
Sam Long and Thomas Szapucki are in the mix, too.
Edwin Diaz signed a 5-year, $102M deal with the Mets. He's a closer! His career high in IP is 73-1/3.
David Pinto (Baseball Musings) opines that this raises the cost of all FA relievers.
Relief pitching is usually cheaper than starting pitching. That's changing as bullpens become increasingly important and starters are routinely facing fewer batters. We saw how critical the 'pen was to the 2021 Giants and how the drop-off from some key people (like Rogers, Garcia, Leone, McGee) really impacted the team's success.
That's the rub: it's hard to get relievers who are predictably good year after year. There's a lot of volatility in performance even from top players.
Ultimately if you want to be the Astros you have to have talent at every goddamn spot on the 25-man roster! That team had no real weaknesses.
I should note that Mauricio Dubon played three innings in CF in the Series (9th in G2, and 8th-9th in G4) but did not bat. He gets a ring, though! He was the 26th man on the team and slashed .208/.254/.294 in 83 games during the regular season. As we know he never hit much (.726 OPS in 2020 was a career high) but he was useful at multiple positions. He played all three OF spots for Houston and was also used at 2B and SS. He's arb-eligible for 2023 and a FA in 2027. He turned 28 in July. I wonder if he can last in MLB as a utility player?
I mean 26-man roster. Still not used to typing "26" instead of 25.
Can Dubon pitch? He sure has a good arm.
He was never used as a pitcher. You'd think he would have been if he could do it. There's always one position player on a team who has to take an inning or two. Luis Gonzalez and Austin Wynns both pitched last season. I wonder why they never used Dubon? Maybe his glove was too valuable to waste him.
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